Week 9: Thing 23

When I began this class I thought I was pretty current on my knowledge of technology. What I found out through the discovery excercises was I had a lot of learning to do! I realized that although I knew what certain things were (blog, pod casts, ebooks, etc.) I had zero experience with actually using most of them. Can you really know about something without the experience?

I found I will take some of this new found knowledge to enhance my personal life, some to enhance my classroom experience, and some will be left out. With a little practice and a lot of exploring the technology that I was unfamiliar with was not as scary as I thought going in. For me, the most important thing technology can do is not complicate my life or make me repeat the same process yet again for the same result but rather to enhance it and streamline it. With all the options for the same thing (i.e. photo sharing) I just need to find the one that will fit my purpose best and jump in.

I really have enjoyed this class and felt the structure and set up was beneficial. Although there are so many topics out there to cover the ones included here are basic, fun, and just the tip of the iceberg!

Week 9: Thing 22

Books on tape has graduated to 2.0! I love this... I am a bit torn because I love to read but for those long car rides to the camping destination this could be it! I don't see myself downloading a book unless for that specific reason though. I can see how this is very useful for students, especially students learning English, struggling with reading, etc.

Week 9: Thing 21

Oh, the joy of pod casts. I found during the discovery exercises I like using itunes to find and listen to pod casts...maybe it is the lack of advertisements. Anyway, I found some good stuff which I subscribed to. The last time I did this though I only received one episode. Who knows what I did wrong. Hopefully feeling more confident with technology I can correct this if needed. Reading the Beginners Guide to Pod casting about how to record a podcast was interesting as it is not as difficult as I thought! Definitely some good info. there. Since I am due with my first baby any day I found a podcast regarding this topic and a few of the episodes sound pretty good. The plan is to be able to listen to them while out for walks, etc.
Once I manage to get the updates regularly and make sure everything is worked out I can venture off to new stuff. I have seen pod casts from some websites I periodically visit. Then maybe one day take it to the classroom.

Week 9: Thing 20

I love YouTube but do not have much experience with other video sites. I usually don't spend too much time looking at videos but so many have been in the news since the site launched that it is hard to not look at some! I only watch two or three then get bored and move on. Anyway, with this weeks task to explore and the suggestion made in reference to 60's music videos I spent a lot of time watching Janis Joplin performances. My mom introduced me to her music a long time ago (probably when I was too young to really know what was happening) but something about her always stuck with me...maybe a bit rebellious...or the free spirit...

Anyway, the fact that we can now go back and watch things like this are amazing. It can be used to enhance history lessons books students are reading...this can really change the way students learn. A fun project would be to have them make a video about a topic they are studying and post it for all to see. Thinking more about this, I also spent time looking up videos with footage of previous Olympics and was able to find fascinating footage of Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXIe5GbLSUs. Overall, some great stuff that can enhance our student's (& our own) knowledge! It will be interesting to challenge myself to see how I can use this in my PE class.

Week 8: Thing 19

I spent some time exploring LibraryThing and found I would not have a need for it. As a PE teacher, I would not use it. Personally, I do not see to much benefit. It is nice to know it is out there though if I need to look up a book or a review of a book. I think this is one of the sites that I would get bored using.

I posted a few cook books to my profile and a few baby books. It seems they were not too popular. There were a few comments made for 3 of them but no real discussions. Overall, I don't see myself using the site at all.

Week 8: Thing 18

I explored Zoho writer today and created a simple document I use to track our mile runs. This is a very easy site to use and would be great for students to track different things for a class. Also, if you create the group email it may be beneficial to send info as well. The document I created is one I give to my students to keep in their PE folder and turn in every quarter. I find it not only helps them see progress but also keeps them accountable.
(I tried to publish my document to my blog but where it asks for the user name and pswd it keeps telling me I am not recognized...ugh!)
Also, watching the You Tube video for Google sites is interesting. I can't believe all the things that are available online now. It is truly amazing. I am going to have a hard time after this class deciphering which tools to use for my class and which to skip. There are so many options for ways to enhance my class and I am finding a lot of what I have wanted to do in the past I was unable due to not having a classroom. Now, with some creativity, I can accomplish some of these task with my students if I utilize technology! It is very exciting!

Week 7: Thing 17

I have experienced my first Wiki sandbox posting! I think I did it correctly but I am unsure of why everything was related to a dog in the postings! Oh well, it gets people talking...

I also created a wiki with PBWiki and am enjoying exploring it and making changes...